>> schieffer: today on facethe nation, what a week it was. lightning struck the vatican. a meteorite struck the earth. and, oh, yeah, congress and the president left town. we'll talk about it with the president's new chief of staff, dennis mcdonough. then we'll hear from two political heavyweights, newark mayor cory booker, and former republican party chairman haley barbour. in the wake of the pope's resignation, we'll talk about what's ahead for the catholic church with cardinal donald wuerl of washington. we'll get the latest on that meteorite from jeffrey chewinger, senior science editor

of "science magazine" the latest from david ignatius of the "washington post," tom ricks of "foreign policy," and state department correspondent margaret brennan. we'll round it up on the with amy walt ar aim amy walter, michael gerson, and our political director john dickerson. from out in space to here on earth, this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: and good morning, again, on a day when there is no shortage of questions. we welcome dennis mcdonough, president obama's me chief of staff, who i presume has brought many answers with him this morning. nice to have you. >> thanks for having me, bob. i'm really looking forward to it. >> schieffer: the sequester, these draconian across-the-board

spending cuts that are supposed to go into effect march 1. it appears to me that this is anything to happen. it looks to as if both the president and the congressional leaders have given up on each other. can this possibly happen? >> well, we've not give know up on this, bob, and the reason we've not given up on this is because it's going to have a real impact, on middle-class families-- >> schieffer: it's going to have an impact on everybody. >> across the board. the lens through which the president is going to see the fight is what is the impact on middle class family and the kind of investments we expect for the economy to grow from the middle out. so our hope is that this does not happen, that we choose-- rather than make this an ideological fight as it appears to be right now among some on the republican caucus, we just do a balanced approach to fix this problem. >> schieffer: i agree with all that b, but when you have the speaker of the house saying i can't work with the president any more. every time i work with him i get

bermuda. when he says he won't take on the liberals in his own party on reforming the social programs, and then you see the president, he's not talking to anybody. he's out making speeches around the country. >> oh, i think that the president is-- he laid out in very complete detail-- >> schieffer: but what is he doing? what are the two sides doing to keep this from happening? >> you saw what he did on tuesday night during the state of the union when he laid out in detail on what he is prepared to do as it relates to fixing this problem. over the last several months we got agreement on $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years. we're ready to do another $1.5 trillion that every economist says we need to do to stablize the debt problem. >> schieffer: would you say morning the profit united states will not let this happen? >> the president of the united states is doing everything he can to not let this happen. we need to work with our friends on the hill. when you look at the senate

democratic plan and the president's plan, both very balanced plans that gets some savings in this deficit fight from spending cuts and some savings from increased revenues. what our friends in the house have told us is that they will not even consider anything that includes h1n1 creased revenuees, not even closing loopholes will for corporate jets, closing loopholes will for oil and gas companies. that seems to me to be a position that they should reexamine and come to the table and have a real discussion about it. >> schieffer: "u.s.a. today" said the white house has been circulating its own immigration plan that provides some path to citizensship for people already here. speaker boehner said his great fear was the president would get in the way, that he thought there were already bipartisan efforts under way on the hill. has the white house, in fact, circulated the own plan behind the keeps or where is all that? >> the president's great fear is we don't take this opportunity

to meet immigration reform exrepsively in four ways. continue with the great progress we have made on border security. continue to crack down on businesses that game system and hire illegal workers. three, have a path to earned citizenship for people that they earn their citizenship if they pay back taxes, pass background check, and learn english. and lastly reform the legal immigration system tow people have a reasonable opportunity to get to this country. all of us are descend apts of immigration. and we want to make sure-- >> schieffer: so is this a new plan the president is circulated? >> i think the report said-- i would have to check-- but i think it said it has been circulating inside the administration. and i think the president laid out in las vegas last week we will be prepared with our own plans if the talks between republicans and democrats will on the health break down. there are no efforts they have broken down. we continue to support that. we are involved in those efforts

by providing technical assistance and providing them ideas and i hope republicans and democrats up there don't get involved? in kind of typical washington back-and-forth sideshow here and rather rolled up their sleeves and get to work on writing a comprehensive immigration bill-- glief you think something will happen on this? >> i think something needs to happen. i think our system is broken. i think our opportunity to tap into qualified immigrants in this economy over the course of time is a great opportunity for us. and i think we just have to fix the border security situation, making the progress we have over the last four years permanent. >> schieffer: the white house finally acknowledgedly last week that the president did not make a call to the libyan government on that night when four americans died in benghazi. republicans wanted to know why. i want to ask you, you were the deputy national security adviser. it's my understanding, we learned last week, that want president got a briefing early on the afternoon, and seemed to have no more participation in

anhing. we know he didn't talk to the secretary of defense, or didn't talk to the c.i.a. chief after that. what was the president dag that night? >> boy, i just-- i don't remember it that way, bob. and in fact letter we sent to capitol hill earlier this week said that secretary of state clinton called the libyan-- >> schieffer: we know that. >>eeo behalf of the president and we carried out a very robust reaction to the situation on behalf of the-- >> schieffer: were you aware of what was happening? >> throughout the night. not only were we briefing him, we were convene the united states government, the deputy's committee and the national security council and i will we worked it throughout the night. the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs worked this throughout the night. here's the important thing, bob. we did everything we could that night-- which, by the way, was borne out by the review board. they said the washington-based effort was a good effort that did everything it it possible could have. but the question from the

president now is mao-- what have we condition to make sure this does not happen again? and he demanded of us his team, be that at the state department, be that at the white house or the pentagon ear the intelligence community to make sure this never happens again, and he won't put up with it. >> schieffer: one of the relationships congress is holding uplet nominations of both john brennan of the c.i.a., and chuck hagel at the defense department, they tell us there were 70 e-mails that went back and forth if during that week on what susan rice should say on this broadcast and the other talk shows the following sunday, and somewhere along the way, the idea that this was the act of terrorists, was taken out. why don't you, number one, give the senators those e-mails and let them find up on the what they say they want to find out about this? and who in fact did take the connection to al qaeda and the terrorists will out of those talking points? >> well, i think there's-- there

is an ongoing effort between the administration and the intelligence community to resolve exactly what they need to get. in addition to everything else we've already done, bob, 20 hearings or briefings with members of congress, 10,000 pages of documents that we provided. and so we'll resolve whatever it is on this question-- >> schieffer: you'll give them the e-mails? >> we'll resolve it. i don't know how it will get resolved. in fact i think we're wol our way to reville it. here's what i don't want to do. don't want to have our mom nearby john brennan, 30-year veteran of national security matters in this town, a person of unbelievable character and commitment and patriotic feeling for this country, hung up in the midst of the situation we have right now-- threats from north korea, threats in afghanistan, threats in pack stark threats in north africa. let's get the president's director of central intelligence over into the seat so he can work these matters.

let's not let this become another-- >> schieffer: all right. >> political football in a town that at the moment seems very focusold political football and a little less focused on national security and middle class-- >> schieffer: i have to ask you quickly. you're talking about the director of the c.i.a. is it also as critical for your nominee to head the pentagon? >> no question about it. no question about it. and what we just sent up the letter-- we sent in response questions on benghazi, as we said, latest interaction and 10,000 pages of documents that we've provided to the congress on this matter. the president's focus is, okay, let's account for what happened. let's reform and make sure it never happens again. let's get our guys in the position so they can help us make sure it never happens-- >> schieffer: and you said you'd let them see these e-mails. >> there's an ongoing effort. i'm not going to nearby that here with you bob. there's an ongoing effort, and i think we're making very good progress on that. >> schieffer: mr. chief of staff, thank you so much. i hope you'll come back. >> i'll be happy to come back

any time. >> schieffer: all right, we want to go outside washington new to talk about what dennis mcdonough talked about. haley barbour is a former republican party chairman, former governor of mississippi. he is in jackson this morning, and cory booker, of course, is the mayor of newark, and he is in our new york studio. governor barbour, president me just start with you, and i want to go back to the top. he says he hopes the sequester, the draconian cuts don't go into effect. but from where i sit it looks to me like this is all going to happen because congress and the white house just can't figure out hue not to let it happen. what's your take? >> first of all, it was the president's idea when the sequester was proposalsed to be put into law a couple of years ago and there are plenty of reasons for to not want it to go into effect, particularly the defense spending. what the democrats want is another excuse to raise taxes. their answer soevery question is raise taxes. they apparently think what's

wrong with the company and president obama, mrs. pelosi, steny hoyer, and top harkin, all prominent democrats have all said, "we don't have a spending problem in this country." they think what's wrong with our country is we tax too little. well, most americans watching today, bob, don't think we have a trillion-dollar deficit for four consecutive years because we taxes too little. they know it's because we spend too much. >> schieffer: but isn't what you're saying, governor, what people say is wrong with washington. here we go again. governor barbour says it's all the fault of the democrats will and the president says it's all the fault of the republicans and i want to know where there is some ground rathe 22 sides could get together and get something done. is there such a place? >> you're going to see on the sequester-- i believe you're correct the sequester will go into effect. >> schieffer: you do think? >> i do, and there are a lot of republicans that don't like parts of it, but they understand we've come to a point where we've got to take action about

spending. and the democrats say the real answer is to have 50% more tax increases. the answer to every question for the democrats is let's raise somebody's taxes. >> schieffer: well, we've got a democrat with us this morning, the mayor of newark. mayor booker, what do you-- do you see this thing happening and what do you think the consequences will be if it does happen? >> i pray it doesn't. the consequences are real and i see them on the ground. this sequester goes to a place that will hurt small business in my community and giving them access to capital. it's going to hurt kids. it's going to knock so many kids off things like head start and for me in the daily fight against crime it's going to hurt law enforcement. it's going to hurt the f.b.i. and others. this is a threat to the nation that every independent economist says would hurt the united states of america, would hurt our economy, would hurt real people on the field. and there's no excuse for it. there's a level of brinks

manship being played in congress. h.i.v. seen it over the debt ceiling. i've seen it over the fiscal cliff that is just unnecessary. there needs to be a lel of pragmatism back to our politics. i give a lot of credit to the president. he's not just saying let's raise taxes. he said the obvious, we in america cannot continue to spend more than we take in. it's something i don't have the luxury of as mayor doing. what i see the president doing is putting tremendous cuts on the table, trillions of dollars of cuts. you just heard the chief of staff say they're willing to put $4 trillion in cuts but it has to be in a balanced way. the challenge i see right now, if this happens, the sequester happens, the cuts will be blunt, brutal and mind as opposed to being intelligent and insightful. and it will not invest. it will stop us from investing in those critical areas in america we must invest on if we want long-term economic growth. >> schieffer: mr. mayor, let me ask you one thing, frank lautenber, the long-term senator

from new jersey said he will not seek reelection. you said you were thinking about it. i think you put together some sort of a pac. are you going to seek the democratic nomination for the senate seat in new jersey? >> clearly it's a job i'm interested in. we did what we had to do by law and file the federal account. i'll spend the coming months working on and exploring that, but right now we have one election in new jersey, which is our st. wide gubernatorial legislative celtics. as a democrat in new jersey, that's where my focus is. next year's election for senate will take care of itself. and again i hope to be one of those people that the residents of new jersey will consider giving that honor and fighting for them on the federal level. >> schieffer: you're not in any way, shape, or form think about running for governor as a democrat, are you? >> no, no, i'm thinking about supporting-- look, nurming is going to have a big election. we in new jersey take one election at a time. 2014 is a long way off. let's focus on supporting the democratic nominee for governor and, frankly, a lot of legislative races are up for grabs right now in new jersey.

>> schieffer: let me go back to governor barbour. quickly, governor, if you had one piece of advice for beth sides right now on how to avoid the sequester, what would it be? would it be to put it off? i understand speaker boehner is talking about maybe passing some sort of resolution to keep the government funding at current levels until august, which is just another way to kick it down the road. is that the best both sides can do right now? >> i don't believe speaker boehner is thinking about doing that. we have a continued resolution that comes up at the end of march, march 27-28. bob, remember, while the president talks like he's real concernedded about the deficit spending, we haven't had a budget in three years in the united states. now, how serious you can be about our fiscal issues when there hasn't even been a budget passed in three years. and i think boehner and the republicans and i think democrats who are concerned about this need to realize we didn't take any action on the

debt ceiling because we didn't want to hurt the credit of the country, but sequester, and then the continuing resolutions at the end of march, these are the two times when the american people need to understand is there anybody in washington serious about getting control of spending? remember when the president proposed the sequester nearly two years ago, it was all about spending restraint. it didn't have a thing to do with raising taxes. >> schieffer: all right, well, governor, mr. mayor, thanks to both of you. we'll be back in just a minute to talk about the departing pope and who the new within is going to be. ( applause ) and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work.

[ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 consider if rolling it over to a schwab ira tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 might let you get more out of it. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like earning a bonus of up to $600 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 in a schwab ira tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and 150 commission-free online trades tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 plus our rollover consultants handle virtually tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 all the details tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 to help you focus on the bigger picture. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so give us a call and get started today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 see schwab.com/iraoffer for terms and conditions. >> schieffer: joining us now. we have been talking about problems on earth. we're going to talk about heaven and earth on this broadcast, and the archbishop of washington cardinal donald wuerl is with us this morning. eminence, thank you so much. i know this is a work day for you. we appreciate you finding the time to talk about it with us.

what happens? the pope, first time in, what, 600 years that a pope has resigned. what's going to happen here? >> well, as we-- as we know, the next step will be the conclave. now, we even have a little bit of hesitancy on when exactly that will start because the regulations all called for and anticipated a conclave with the death of the pope. so what we have here is the retirement of the pope. so we have to probably move up the conclave since there won't be that period of mourning. >> schieffer: so this will be mid-march? >> i suspect maybe even a little bit earlier in march because we have to start gathering on the first of march. >> schieffer: what happens when all of you get together over there? is this-- i mean, and i mean-- i do not mean this to be in any way disrespectful toward religion-- but is it like a political convention? do you have people getting

together feeling each other out? because one of you is going to be elected to this job. what's it like inside one of those conclaves? >> well, before the conclave actually start, there are a number of days when all the cardinals come together so that we can actually talk among ourselves, begin to get a better sense of one another. there are going to be 117 of us there with the right to vote. and just to get to know a little bit better personally one another, there will be four or five days of these meetings. but it-- >> schieffer: will you in any way-- could you be the nominee? >> no, that-- that enters into the world of fantasy. but when we get back into the real world, i think what will happen is a number of cardinals will begin to surface in the conversation among all of us as particularly appealing candidates. it's not like a political process, though.

there aren't nominations, and you don't have people saying, "i vote for..." and "my favorite son is..." when we go into the conclave, all of that stops. it's silence inside the conclave and the real focus is on the power of the holy spirit. i'm looking to this as sort of a very, very super retreat. you just start to pray the only indication we get of how things are going is when they count the votes. >> schieffer: do you think there's any chance an american could be pope? timothy dolan, the archbishop of new york is a name that comes up a lot. but in the past, the church has sort of shied away from popes who came from super powers. >> i think it would be-- i think you're absolutely right, bob. i think it would be very difficult for the pope to come from the united states, not because we don't have qualified

people-- and i have a great affection for cardinal dolan-- but because we are the one, great super power. however, there is another roman saying, "never put limits on divine provenance." >> schieffer: what do you see as the major problems confronting whoever becomes the next pope? we've had these scandals in the church and all of that. >> i think the real challenge that the church faces today and that the next pope will have to lead us in addressing is the overwhelming influence of secularism that's really drowning out the voice of religion, the voice of faith. each one of us is called to a relationship with god in whatever tradition we belong. we're all called to that relationship. and we have to keep focusing on

that. i think it will be the task of the pope to say there's a spiritual mission, and that is the work of the the church. >> schieffer: we'll be back in a moment with some person thoughts. ♪ impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy.

it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet? natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪ a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it.

♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪ >> schieffer: ronald reagan used to say for all our differences, if we were attacked by aliens from outer space, earth's people would come together and defend that planet. all that space junk crashing into siberia made me wonder, though, was he right? probably. but after watching washington's blundering effort to deal with the so-called sequester, i wouldn't bet the ranch on it. mind you, these automatic cuts in spending that go into effect march 1 are washington's own doing. the law cut spending programs to the bone. it ends head start, reduces the number of food inspectors, ensures longer lines at airports because of massive furloughes of federal workers, not to mention

layoffs at shipyarde shipyardes and on and on and on. all of which would probably cause a recession. the idea was that no sane person would allow such cuts to happen, which was theorized, would force congress and the white house to take responsible steps to slow down deficit spending. well, guess what? even washington managed to underestimate its own ineptitude. the sequester and the draconian cuts are about to happen because want white house and congress cannot close the partisan divide and figure out what to do about them. well, there is at least some good news. if aliens do attack, our leaders will be well rested to meet that challenge after congress left town on friday for yet another vacation. the president flew to florida for some golf. back in a moment. which makes you wonder -- isn't that a conflict? search "proprietary mutual funds."

yikes! then go to e-trade. we've got over 8,000 mutual funds, and not one of them has our name on it. we're in the business of finding the right investments for you. e-trade. less for us. more for you. the fund's prospectus contains its investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information and should be read and considered carefully before investing. for a current prospectus, visit etrade.com/mutualfunds. before investing. all stations come over to mithis is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked.

five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. >> for most of you we'll be right back with a lot more and more on that debris falling out of the sky. "face the nation." stay with us.